Someone's Looking At The Stars
by HecateA
Summary: After Fred dies, George needs time to get back on his feet. Luckily, Oliver is more than ready to wait. Oneshot.


**Author's Note: **Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

**Warnings:** Grief; depression

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**Someone's Looking At The Stars **

_You put your arms around me_

_And I believe that it's easier for you to let me go_

_You put your arms around me and I'm home_

_How many times will let you me change my mind and turn around_

_I can't decide if I'll let you save my life or if I'll drown_

_I hope that you see right through my walls_

_I hope that you catch me, 'cause I'm already falling_

_I'll never let a love get so close_

_You put your arms around me and I'm home_

-Arms, Christina Perri

Verity had slipped Oliver her key to the store when he'd swung by earlier and whispered her goodbyes before leaving. Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes hadn't opened that day, and so Oliver did his usual errands on days like today—he picked up the mail, did a quick grocery trip, checked at the dry cleaner's to see if there was anything that needed to be picked up, and stopped by a flower shop whose sunflowers caught his eye. He let himself into the shop, arms full, carefully locked up behind him, and made his way up the stairs to George's flat. He knocked once before letting himself in and announced his presence. Nobody answered, so Oliver put the mail in its usual spot, put away the groceries, set the kettle to boil, and sorted out a vase of water for the sunflowers.

He brought them with him when he went to knock on George's bedroom door and slipped inside. The curtains were shut and George was laying on his bed, not even covered by a sheet or propped on a pillow. Just laying down.

"Hey," Oliver said. "Bellamy Blossoms down the street had really nice sunflowers and I couldn't stop myself, I'll set them down on the vanity… Otherwise cleaner says they'll need another day for the curtains. I have no idea what kind of stain you guys left there but it must've been quite something. Shop's okay, Verity got the float for tomorrow ready and cleaned up a bit. I'll make soup tonight, that way you can eat with me and have leftovers, or just have it when you're ready. It'll keep well."

He straightened up the sunflowers and sat next to George, the other man facing away from him.

"Practise got canceled today, which was fine by me," Oliver said. "And I only have to go in tomorrow at 4:00, before our game against the Harpies, so I can stay the night if you'd like me to."

"How much longer can you take this?" George whispered quietly.

"What do you mean?" Oliver asked, putting a hand on George's back, right between his shoulder blades. He knew for a fact that there was a constellation of freckles in that spot.

"How much longer can you take my being like this?" George asked. "This is not what you signed up for, I know, but I don't know how I'm going to get better."

"It's going to happen," Oliver said. "I'm in no rush."

"I wish I was," George said, so quietly he may have been speaking to himself. "I… I don't know how much longer I can do this."

"Do what?" he asked, running his hand on circles over George's back.

George didn't answer, and Oliver couldn't even imagine what he meant. Finding himself alone, for the first time in his life; finding himself without his best friend, his business partner, his favourite person in the world...

"I've never felt like this before," George said. "This is… this is the opposite of what I feel, what I want everyone else around me to feel. I'm too tired to do this, Oliver."

Oliver leaned down and kissed his ear.

"You'll do this for as long as you need," he said. "You're strong."

"I used to be stronger," George said. "With him."

"I know," Oliver said. "But you're strong alone, too. That's the kind of strong you've got now. And you'll get even stronger, and you'll feel stronger too."

"So what are you here for?" George asked. "While I'm like this?"

"I'm waiting for you to want me again," Oliver said. "And I'm making sure that you're taken care of in the meantime. Or that you're taken care of until you're back on your feet and we decide to part ways. I'm in no rush, George Weasley. I will wait until you can fit me in with your grief, until your heart's not quite so broken, and until you're ready for us to pick up where we dropped off."

"That first date wasn't even that great," George said.

"But the second one was," Oliver said. "And the third date—the third date was even better, not to mention what came after."

"Your head's in the gutter, Wood."

"At least I'm looking at the stars," Oliver said. He was happy to; until George was ready and able to look up too.

"You are," George said quietly. "Thank you."

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**Stacked with:** Hogwarts; Winter Bingo; Shipping War

**Individual Challenge(s): **Bloomin' Tales; Gryffindor MC (x2); Seeds; Old Shoes; Themes & Things A (Love); Themes & Things B (Loss); Themes & Things C (Blanket); Neurodivergent; Rian-Russo Inversion; Flags & Ribbons; Rowl in Her Grave; In a Flash

**Word Count:** 825

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_**Winter Bingo **_

**Space (Prompt): **1B (Loneliness)


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